Review – The Dukes of Hazzard

Okay, the guilt is on me for renting this when I knew perfectly well what to expect. My only excuse was that I hoped Johnny Knoxville might bring at least some semblance of sarcasm to the production. Instead, the “magic” seems to have worked in reverse, making him as bad as the rest of the movie. And truly bad it was, even worse than my memories of the TV series. Indeed, the only thing that stood out for me amid the general awfulness was the odd handling of the Confederate flag on the roof of the car. Unlike the series – which never seemed to give any thought to the subject – the movie acknowledges that some folks don’t care much for the emblem of the pro-slavery South. I would almost have preferred ignorance or even anti-PC pig-headedness to the attitude here, which had a disturbing “we know it’s wrong but we’re going to do it anyway” feel. Other than that this is exactly what one would expect: the redneck moral equivalent of gangsta rap. Oh, and I never saw the rated version so I can’t say for certain, but my guess is that the main distinction between the theatrical release and the unrated DVD (the version I saw) was the inclusion of a couple of completely superfluous boob shots (and no, they weren’t Jessica Simpson’s). Maybe a drug reference at the end or perhaps a couple of the raunchier jokes. But nothing to write home about. Wish I’d skipped it